2013 Volume 12 Issue 1 Pages 9-14
The majority of ornamental camellia cultivars are derived from Camellia japonica. Camellia japonica subsp. rusticana, C. sasanqua, and C. reticulata have also been utilized. The four species/subspecies and their hybrids form the majority of modern camellias; however, some cultivars may have arisen from other species because of their unique morphological and physiological characteristics. Based on these characteristics and the location where it was discovered, ‘Robiraki’ was considered to be a natural interspecific hybrid between C. sinensis and C. japonica subsp. rusticana. Molecular analyses indicated that the seed parent was C. japonica or C. japonica subsp. rusticana. ‘Tagoto-no-tsuki’, thought to be one of the sasanqua cultivars, was assumed to be derived from the native Chinese species C. oleifera based on the morphological characteristics. Chloroplast DNA shows maternal inheritance in the genus Camellia. PCR-RFLP analysis using chloroplast DNA of the atpI-atpH region digested by TaqI and the trnL-trnF region digested by TasI (TspEI) can distinguish C. japonica from C. japonica subsp. rusticana and C. sasanqua from C. oleifera. Here, we conducted PCR-RFLP analyses, and found coincident polymorphisms between ‘Robiraki’ and C. japonica subsp. rusticana and between ‘Tagoto-no-tsuki’ and C. oleifera, respectively. Because the DNA sequences of the atpI-atpH region also coincided respectively, we concluded that the maternal ancestor of ‘Robiraki’ is C. japonica subsp. rusticana, and that of ‘Tagoto-no-tsuki’ is C. oleifera.
